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Noana
Noana was an attractive young woman from the South Seas island of Tihyli who was kidnapped and brought to America by Stud Bronzen. Noana was tall and slender with naturally dark hair. She often wore flowers in her hair. The Mysterious Statue After the death of Stud Bronzen, Dick Tracy and Chief Shellbury were clearing out the smugglers and immigrants from Bronzen's ship. Shellbury heard the sound of a woman's voice coming from a statue, and he and Tracy soon realized that there was a hidden compartment in the wall behind the statue. Opening it, they found a beautiful young woman who seemed to speak no English. The woman was taken to police headquarters where attempts were made to communicate with her. Tracy that another woman might have more success, so he asked Tess to try. Tess stomped on the woman's foot, and she angrily cried out in English. The woman revealed that her name was Noana. She was from the Halia on the island of Tihyli, and she had been abducted by Stud Bronzen and his men when she was on her way to visit her father on the nearby island of Mosa. The only other thing that she knew was that she had been intended to be delivered to the restaurant owned by Johnny Ramm, where she was to be put to work as a dancer. Infiltrating the Ramm Gang Tracy decided to use Noana as a way to gather more information about Johnny Ramm and his immigrant smuggling operation. He sent Noana to Ramm with a story to explain how she escaped the raid on Bronzen's boat. Ramm was dubious, but her put Noana to work in his restaurant anyway. Noana later created a distraction which allowed Pat Patton (in disguise as a waiter at the restaurant) to gather documents from Ramm's office. Later Tracy forged a note from May Lin (who was impersonating Mayor Chiang of Chinatown) to Ramm requesting that Noana be sent to the Mayor's office in secret. Noana was sealed inside a hollow statue and sent to the Mayor just as Dick Tracy arrived at the office. Revealing Noana as proof of May Lin's involvement in the human trafficking ring, May Lin was taken into custody. Noana, who had contracted a serious cold, was taken to the police hospital to recover. Kidnapped by Ramm Noana was abducted from the police hospital by Johnny Ramm. With his human trafficking operation disrupted, Ramm switched his attention to extortion. He used Noana to plant explosives at the buildings of those who refused to pay him protection money, believing that a woman would be considered less suspicious. He also dyed Noana's hair blonde to make her less recognizable to the authorities. Ramm's group was soon infiltrated by Dick Tracy, who had faked his own death and was posing in disguise as "Pete Reppoc". He gained Ramm's trust while secretly signalling to Noana to cooperate with him. "Reppoc" was able to direct Noana to plant her explosives at abandoned and unoccupied buildings, as well as surreptitiously sending messages to the police. Eventually Ramm's hideout was raided by the police department and Dick Tracy revealed his deception. Noana was freed from her servitude and received a large monetary reward and free passage back to her home as compensation for her aid. Notes * Noana's name was occasionally depicted as "Naona". Noana appeared in the strip first, and her name was spelled that way intermittently until her final appearance. * Noana's island home of Tihyli was apparently a British colony or possibly an American protectorate, explaining her strong grasp of the English language. * Additionally, readers can assume that Tihyli was on the route that Stud Bronzen and his men used to transport immigrants from China, as they would not likely have diverted their course greatly in order to abduct one woman.